In Almaty, there is a fairly busy transport connection – you can freely move around the city on comfortable trolleybuses, shuttle buses and the metro. At any time, tourists have the opportunity to use the services of a taxi, car rental or bicycle sharing. In the article we will deal with the schedule of public transport and find out how to buy a ticket for travel.
Almaty Public transport Official Website
It is convenient to get acquainted with the routes and schedules of work on the official website of the city public transport aet.kz/marshruty-ru/ or through 2Gis. In addition to daytime, there are night routes and weekend routes.
- Approximate operating time of bus and trolleybus routes: from 06:00 to 22:00 or 23:00, the interval of movement depending on the time of day: from 8 to 10 minutes.
- Approximate opening hours of the city metro: daily from 06:20 to 00:00, the interval of train traffic: from 8 minutes during rush hour on weekdays to 13 minutes at off-peak time on weekends.
Almaty Travel Tickets
You can pay for travel in public transport in Almaty in several ways (the fare will directly depend on the method of payment). When paying in cash, the fare is 150 tenge. It is much more profitable to make trips on a special transport card “Onay”: one trip will cost only 80 tenge.
“Onay” is a single transport travel card, which is valid for trips in the metro, buses and trolleybuses of Almaty. The card itself costs 500 tenge, one trip on the card costs 80 tenge, a monthly pass – 7200 tenge.
Cards are of three types – ordinary, preferential and collectible. Travelers will be more interested in regular and collectible travel cards. Their main difference is design and cost. If the usual travel card, as already mentioned, costs 500 tenge, then you will have to pay 700 tenge for a card with the symbols of the city. The cost of one trip for both types of cards is the same – 80 tenge.
Children under 7 years old are entitled to free travel, and children from 7 to 15 years old are entitled to a 50% discount when paying for travel (if they have a document confirming their age). Accordingly, travel on the “Onay” card for a child will cost only 40 tenge.
The card can be registered in the mobile application “Onay” for iOS and Android, and pay for travel using a QR code.
You can pay for public transport in Almaty in several ways:
- Disposable tokens (metro; yellow token – adult, red – children’s);
- Unified transport card ONAY (all modes of transport);
- Smart cards;
- Contactless payment cards (all types of transport).
How to pay Almaty Transport Ticket
- t is necessary for a few seconds to bring the card to the validator in buses / trolleybuses or to the reader at the turnstile in the subway.
- If the operation was successful, you will hear a characteristic sound signal, see a green indicator on the screen and the amount of payment.
- If the red light comes on, you removed the card too quickly or there are not enough funds on the card.
You can buy the card in the metro, airport, railway stations, bus station “Sayran”, from official representatives. You can replenish the card in the mobile application, from the balance of the phone, in the network of terminals, etc. Detailed instructions and a map of the network of replenishment terminals are available on the official website of “Onay”.
An alternative to the card is a special key fob “Onay”, which, along with the card, is designed to pay for travel in public transport in Almaty. The cost of the carrier is 2000 tenge.
Almaty Metro
Almaty Metro is the only metro in Kazakhstan, put into operation only 10 years ago (in 2011). The metro carries about 14 million passengers annually. The metro is currently small and consists of one branch and 9 stations. The branch runs from the south-western (Moscow metro station) to the north-eastern part of Almaty (Raiymbek Batyr metro station).
The rolling stock is represented by modern cars produced by the South Korean giant Hyundai. The cars are through and fully air-conditioned. The Almaty metro has its own Internet via Wi-Fi, access to which can be easily obtained by confirming your phone number.
Metro stations in the city center are decorated in an interesting and tasteful way. Of particular interest among tourists is the station Zhibek Zholy (which means “Silk Road”). This is a separate tourist attraction, the panel of which depicts the symbols of the countries through which the Great Silk Road passed.
The system is under the control of the company KGP “Metropoliten”. Almaty metro working hours: from 06:20 to 00:00 daily. The train schedule is available online.
The metro consists of only one line and 9 stations:
- «Raiymbek batyr»
- «Zhibek zholy»
- «Almaly»
- «Abai»
- «Baikonur»
- “Theatre named after Mukhtar Auezov”
- «Alatau»
- “Sayran”
- «Moscow»
Almaty Buses
Buses are the main form of land transport for moving around the city. About 135 bus routes run around Almaty under the management of the municipal company “Almatyelectrotrans”. In the central areas of the city, dedicated lanes are provided for buses.
The bus fleet of the city is systematically updated and transferred to environmentally friendly fuel. It is convenient that dedicated lanes were created for fast and well-functioning movement of public transport on major highways of the city. The buses have an electronic fare payment system, as well as cash payment. The fare in Almaty buses is 80 tenge on the “Onay” card, 150 tenge in cash.
Trolleybuses in Almaty
Trolleybuses are the pride of Almaty, because they are no longer found in any other city in Kazakhstan. The city currently operates 8 trolleybus routes from 06:00 to 22:00 or 23:00, the interval of movement depending on the time of day: from 8 to 10 minutes. The most popular route No. 1 Recreation Park is Kozhabekova Street.
Payment of travel is carried out in cash or with the help of travel cards, which must be attached to the validators. The fare in Almaty trolleybuses is 80 tenge on the “Onay” card, 150 tenge in cash. Many routes in recent years have been shortened, and some have been canceled altogether.
Taxi in Almaty
On the roads of Almaty there are taxis of such services as Yandex. Go, Economy taxi, etc. Ordering is possible through a convenient mobile application with a price already known when ordering, by phone or at city taxi ranks. The average cost of a trip within the city is from $ 3.
Personal passenger transportation services in Almaty are provided by private companies, such as Discount taxi, Almaty Taxi – Narodnoye, Econom taxi and many others. Finding a taxi is not a problem both on the streets and on official websites. Many companies have user-friendly mobile apps. As a rule, there is no need to look for a taxi at the airport and railway stations: private cab drivers themselves offer their services, sometimes too obtrusively.
Almaty Cableway
In Almaty, there is a cable car within the city – in kok-Tobe Park, as well as Medeo – Chimbulak (between the Chimbulak ski resort and the Medeo sports complex).
- Cable car from the center of Almaty to Kok-Tobe Park with a length of 1620 m. Travel time is 6 minutes. One-way travel costs 1500 tenge ($ 3.4), two-way – 2500 tenge ($ 5.6). Working hours: 11:00–22:00.
- Cable car from Medeo to Chimbulak. The fare in one direction is 2000 tenge ($ 4.5), in two directions – 3500 tenge ($ 7.9). Working hours: 09:30–18:00.
